Resettlement of Meskhetian Turks from Ukraine to Turkey begun

The first 174 Meskhetian Turks, who have lived in the south-east of Ukraine, fly to Turkey.

KHARKIV (QHA) -

Today, December 25, the first group of Meskhetian Turks, the inhabitants of the south eastern Ukraine, is flying to Turkey. Mostly these are people whose homes were in ATO area, Marat Rasulov, head of the All-Ukrainian Society of Meskhetian Turks ‘Vatan’ said in his interview with a QHA correspondent.

“Today, the first families (174 people) have departed from Kharkiv airport to Turkey. Initially more people had to fly, but some of them cannot fly today for various reasons. They will arrive in Turkey later. I am also flying with our first group to make arrangements, and then I will come back to Ukraine to organize the departure of the next groups,” said Rasulov.

People arriving from Ukraine will be received by representatives of local authorities, social services, and members of parliament in the Turkish city of Erzincan.

Yönet Can Tezel, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Turkey to Ukraine, has been seeing off the group of Meskhetian Turks at the airport in Kharkov. Today, a total of 347 people are expected to depart with two flights.

It was reported earlier that Turkey agreed to accept Meskhetian Turks from the ATO area for permanent residence. These people addressed to the Turkish government with a request for resettlement after the outbreak of hostilities in Donbas. Among them are many of those who, lost their property and traditional way of life because of the tragic events.

The All-Ukrainian Society of Meskhetian Turks ‘Vatan’ was engaged in organization of the resettlement in Ukraine. Marat Rasulov also said that more than 600 families from Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv regions would be relocated.